https://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/balloon_juice_header_logo_grey.jpg00Doug!https://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/balloon_juice_header_logo_grey.jpgDoug!2013-02-18 13:53:172013-02-18 13:56:12Who can say what led us to this miracle we found?

If Stephen Colbert’s sister can pull this off, it would be amazing. I think the district is too Republican, but it will be interesting to see how she does and if the DCCC decides to put any money into the race.

Is everyone as excited about Mark Sanford’s political rebirth as I am?

We’ll see if his rebirth gives us another look under the scandal rug. More likely, everyone will be too busy poo-pooing the idea of minimum wage and pre-school funding to revisit the Gov with the Latin Love.

It’s a conundrum, I do declare! Do you want to see sleezoids of his ilk bounce back so you can kick them while they’re up, or do you want to see them ruined so you can kick them while they’re down? Personally I could probably go either way.

As I recall it, Mark Sanford didn’t just leave South Carolina. He told no one where he was going — lied about it at first, in fact; failed to hand over his job responsibilities to his next in command; and was incommunicado while in Argentina. How does he still have any credibility with voters?

Did we chicken out on the site rebuild? When better than a three-day weekend?

Three day weekend is the worst possible time to change anything. Unless you don’t want to enjoy your weekend. Tuesday mornings are the best for major changes. You’re already awake and at work, you have all day to troubleshoot and can roll it back if you have to.

How appropriate that South Carolina’s First Congressional District (a run for which is the “political rebirth” Mark Sanford seeks) includes Horry County (Myrtle Beach) aka the “Redneck Riviera, a place with a history of um…baroque politics, such as ex-Congressman John Jenrette, who had sex with his wife Rita behind a pillar on the Capitol steps in Washington, and who was later convicted of bribery. However, the First District stretches down the seacoast to also include the more genteel antebellum/naval city of Charleston, so it will be kind of interesting to see how Sanford’s attemted “rebirth” plays out: Sunday morning vs Saturday night Bible Belt sort of scenario.

People in the Bible Belt understand about Saturday night vs Sunda morning. They understand letting it hang out quite a bit on Saturday night, so long as you don’t do anything so bad you can’t show your face in church Sunday morning. If you can’t, then you’ve got some repenting to do for awhile before you get back in the good graces of anyone who wasn’t a co-conspirator in your too-excessive escapade Saturday night. Hard to say whether Mark Sanford has arrived at the point where adequate repentence has been shown and accepted by enough of the electorate of the First District.

I’m more excited about Ben Carson, who seems to be developing a political career out of griping about “political correctness” for twenty minutes at the National Prayer Breakfast. Maybe next he’ll complain about poor role models for young women, like Murphy Brown and Madonna, and how gangsta rap is responsible for all the violence in the inner cities.

I was just catching up my daily calendar (“365 Wrongs from the Right”) and, for Feb 15 the entry was:

“I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light– but hey, that would be going into the sexual details…” — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), writing a love email to his Argentine mistress, Maria Shapur

Also, too Jesus forgives everyone for their sins and Republicans being Christians can embrace Jesus’ forgiveness for their sins. If Jesus has forgiven a politician for some extramarital improprieties, who are voters to object?*

*Unlike the Jew Anthony Weiner, for example, who will never be forgiven for his sins because he refuses Jesus and thus shoulders the wrath of voters.

When the Sanford announcement first came to light several weeks ago someone got a comment from his first wife. Shorter ex-Mrs Sanford: He got some ‘splainin’ to do. Rumors back in December were that his former spouse might run against him but the FSM doesn’t love us that much as she knocked down any chance of that happening almost immediately.

@Robin G.:
@Robin G.:
Wasn’t there talk, at one point, of his ex-wife running against him herself? In any case I’d have thought that the prospect of her reminding everyone what a shit he is would kill any political hopes he still had.

That really depends who you are. Bill Clinton did a public mea culpa and I seriously doubt if most of them bought it. Let’s just say that as long as you’re part of the tribe, pretty much everything’s forgivable. (The theological argument of “faith not acts” gives them the philosophical backing for it – e.g, “nothing you do matters, all that matters is whether or not you accept Jeebus” – “accepting Jeebus,” in context, meaning being part of their tribe, because they have a monopoly on the True Jeebus).

Based on my college experience with fundiegelicals, there’s also a fairly sizable faction for whom sinning is a routine business but accomplished with a wink, a nod, and an understanding that you don’t tell the pastor. (Anecdotal + one case scenario, of course. I’m sure there’s quite a few other cases where the pastor is happily in on it).

You could write a book about the central role of hypocrisy and double standards in Christian fundamentalist life. And people probably have.

Nay, nay. You’ve got me confused with Yutsano (who’s working today, I think.) I work for a big brokerage/mutual fund firm. New York markets are closed, therefore we get a paid holiday. Next one’s good Friday. Damned if I know why the market takes that day off.

Actually, it no longer includes Myrtle Beach, as of the last redistricting – Myrtle Beach just sent one of its own Republicans, Tom Rice, to DC. Rice is a tax lawyer and is kind of dull, considering his home town.

Sanford is a vile sack of shit unfit for any elected office, as his most important, relevant crime the “Hiking the Appalachian Trail” weekend was going AWOL from his position of Governor of South Carolina without bothering to tell anyone on his staff, much less the wife he was cheating on.

@Villago Delenda Est: If voters are gonna be pissed, I think that is the reason. Otherwise I buy into Bill Maher’s opinion that this won’t hurt Sanford too much because it was true love (they are currently engaged) and not just a sleazy affair based on sex. That probably makes it more shitty for his wife and children but I also think it makes it more understandable and acceptable to the public.

“I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light– but hey, that would be going into the sexual details…” — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), writing a love email to his Argentine mistress, Maria Shapur

“Your hips are as beautiful as upper-class tax cuts, your skin as soft a touch as me meeting a corporate lobbyist. Your hands remind me of throwing people off the welfare rolls, your lips as swollen as my Penatgon budget proposal, your thighs as thin as the education provided by South Carolina’s schools. I love you as much as I hate the gays and the blah people.”

A good liberal friend of mine just attended a breakfast with most of the candidates in this race. Sanford struck him as a very conservative, but not wingnut crazy, Republican. Friend thinks Sanford will have a very hard time rousing the base compared to the other numbnuts who are running.

@Anya: Agreed, but as others have mentioned, the more significant part of it is that he vanished to Argentina for several days without telling anyone where he was going and leaving no one in charge of his state. (During hurricane season, no less!)

Do not underestimate the power of the Jimmy Swaggart defense (“AH WUZ WEAK!!!!”), especially in the South, and especially if he can somehow put the blame on her. Men are inherently saintly, you see, but are powerless to resist feminine wiles; thus, it’s all the woman’s fault.

A not-insubstantial portion of church-going voters in that region will eat that shit right up.